FERRIDAY — Most coaches want their players to play a fundamentally sound game in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.

Ferriday High School head coach Freddie Harrison, however, just wants his team to play hard for the entire game.

“I just want us to have one game where we play for four quarters,” Harrison said.

After his team’s 27-24 loss to Lake Providence High School last Friday, Harrison is calling out his team to improve in the area of playing hard for 48 minutes.

“Our kids feel like they don’t have to play until they’re threatened,” Harrison said. “We haven’t played a full four quarters yet this season. We only played three good quarters against Natchez. And against Vidalia and Block, we only played two quarters.

“Peabody and Mangham we only played for two quarters. Against Wossman and Jonesboro-Hodge, we only played one quarter. With Lake Providence, we only played two quarters (and lost).”

Playing a full four quarters often means being able to sustain drives on offense, and Ferriday will need to do that Friday in order to keep its opponent’s explosive offense off the field.

The Trojans will travel to Sterlington High School Friday, and Harrison said he would have to prepare for an offense that likes to pass the ball almost every down.

“They throw it 40 times a game,” Harrison said. “They threw it 54 times once. (Heck), I’d be lucky to get 40 plays in, let alone throw it that many times.”

Harrison also complimented the job the coaching staff at Sterlington has done.

“They have a really good tradition over there. Coach (Mike) Collins has things going really well for them. They’re a class act team, and always play hard-nosed on defense. Their quarterback, Logan Dotson, is the returning All-District Player of the Year.”

When it comes to the playoff race, Harrison said his team’s fate is in his players’ hands, but also said he’s not focused on the different possibilities of how they might make the postseason too much.

“We still control our own destiny to get at least a share of the title,” Harrison said. “We just have to go out and take of our own business.

“I’m not really worried about the playoffs right now. We just need to get back on track with things like tackling, running, blocking, not having mental breakdowns and not committing costly turnovers and penalties.”

The Trojans’ (6-2, 2-1) game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday.